212 TERRITORY AND REPRODUCTION 



forms a habit which compels it to remain 

 within more or less well-defined boundaries. 

 But the actual distance that it traverses on 

 the occasion of its first attempt must be deter- 

 mined by the relative abundance or scarcity 

 of the particular kind of insect life which it 

 requires. So that, although habit defines and 

 in some measure helps to determine the 

 boundaries of the territory, it is clear that in 

 the last resort they must depend upon the 

 nature of the conditions in the external 

 environment. 



We have, then, the congenital basis which 

 leads to the occupation of a position, and to 

 the enmity shown by the owner of the position 

 towards other individuals ; and this congenital 

 basis is found alike in many widely divergent 

 forms, living under equally widely divergent con- 

 ditions ; we have acquired accommodation ; and 

 we have relationships in the organic and inorganic 

 world — and the outcome of it all is a system 

 of behaviour which we, who can perceive the 

 end to which such behaviour is tending, are 

 justified in speaking of as "a disposition to 

 secure a territory." In the development of 

 this system a primary value must be ascribed 

 to the conditions in the external environment, 

 for they determine the direction of the variations 

 of instinctive procedure and of acquired habit 

 which work towards the same goal — that of 

 adjustment to the conditions of life. 



